All right, we're looking tonight
at Hebrews, the 8th chapter. Our studies have taken us through
chapter 7, and now tonight the 8th chapter. Now, of the things which we have
spoken, of the things which we have written to you in I'll say this is the sum. This
is the main point. We have such an high priest. We who are the called in Christ
Jesus, Jews and Gentiles, male and female, we who are not under
the mosaic law, we who have no dealings with
circumcision, ceremonies, animal sacrifices, holy days and Sabbaths,
Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond and free. We have such a
high priest. And Paul has described him in
the previous chapter. The latter part of that chapter
7, he says in verse 24, this man because he continueth ever hath
an unchangeable priesthood." Our great high priest is unchangeable,
the same yesterday, today, and forever, an unchangeable priesthood. These Old Testament priests changed
every few years, but he's the same. Verse 25 says, and he is
able, also to save them to the uttermost
that come to God by Him. These Old Testament priests never
saved anybody, but He saves everybody who comes to God by Him. And
they died, but it says next in verse 25, He ever lives. He ever lives to make intercession
for them. He's the one mediator and the
only mediator. And if any man sin, we have a
continual intercessor and advocate with the Father. And then verse
26 says, and this can't be said of any other priest, such a high
priest became us who is holy. That's God's name, holy. Holy
in reverence, his name. But that's the name of our priest.
He's harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher than the
heavens. Then verse 27 says he needed
not daily as those priests to offer sacrifices. First for his
own sins, he had none. And then for the people, he offered
a sacrifice for the people. But this he did one time. Our
great high priest By one sacrifice has perfected forever them that
are sanctified." And that sacrifice was not an animal sacrifice. He offered up himself. We're
not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious
blood of Christ. By himself he purged our sins. And then it says here in verse
28, our high priest He wasn't made a priest by family heritage. The law makes me a
high priest to have infirmities, but our high priest, the only
high priest of which this can be said, the word of an oath,
the word of an oath which was since the law, And another thing
about him, the oath was the oath of the father, made him our high
priest. But the next thing about him,
make it the son. Our Lord Jesus, he's our high
priest, who is consecrated, perfected forevermore. Now the things we've
spoken, this is the son we have. What a high priest. We have such
a high priest. But look what it says next. And
we need to pause here and reflect for a little time, meditate upon
this statement, what's included here. See if we can comprehend
a little bit of what it's saying. Our high priest is set on the
right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. The majesty
here is God. The majesty is God, to whom all
majesty belongs, who is clothed, the scripture said, in majesty,
whose glory fills the heavens and the temple. And he sat on
the right hand. The right hand is figurative,
but the right hand means oneness, oneness with the Father. The
right hand means power. The right hand means acceptance,
and the right hand indicates the place he occupies. And it
says that our high priest is set. He sits, having finished
the work which God gave him to do. And he sits fully accepted
because the Father himself said, Sit thou at my right hand until
I make your enemies your footstool." He is set in that he sits. He
is set in that he's accepted. He is set in that he's permanently
established. I shall not be moved because
he shall not move. And here's the glorious thing
in all this, included in all this, We are seated there in
him. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, and we are seated there in him. Ephesians 2 verse 4,
But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with Christ, by grace you are saved. And he hath raised
us up together, together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. That's where we're seated, in
the heavenlies, in Christ, that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness poured
us through Christ Jesus. Oh my, we have such an high priest. And verse 2 of Hebrews 8 says
he's a minister. He's an officiating priest. He's an officiating priest and
minister of the sanctuary, of the true
tabernacle. You know, when I think of the
tabernacle, when I think of the high priest, I've read, and you
have, so much about that tabernacle in the wilderness and the sacrifices
and the eight-foot white fence around the tabernacle, the only
entrance, the eastern gate, the altar, the labor of water. the Holy of Holies, the Holy
Place, the Ark of the Covenant, the priest going in there once
a year and making sacrifice, offering sacrifice. When I think
of the tabernacle, when I think of the priesthood, when I think
of the atonement, I just automatically think of that tabernacle in the
wilderness and the mercy seat and the glory, the Shekinah glory
above the mercy seat. But that's all gone. That's all
gone. That's all fulfilled. It's served
its day. It's folded up. It's decayed. It's gone, and no one can find
any part or particle of it. But our high priest minister,
it says here, he's a minister of the true tabernacle. What
would that be? Well, I'll tell you what I believe
it is. I believe it's his body. He's tabernacled among us. I
believe it's his body. His glory, His presence, Himself
before the Father, representing us as our high priest. Let's read Hebrews 9 a minute. Hebrews 9, verse 24. Hebrews 9, verse 24, Christ is
not entered into a holy place made with hands, which are figures
of the truth, But Christ has entered into the heaven itself,
the majesty of the presence of God, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. He's our tabernacle. He's our
high priest. He's our altar. He's our sacrifice. He's our redemption. He's our
salvation. He's all things. It's in Him. And I don't look at a building
made with hands anymore. I look to Christ. A body hast
thou prepared me. That's what he said. A body hast
thou prepared me. In that body he came to fulfill
God's will. All right, verse 3, Hebrews 8. For every high priest, all of
these Old Testament priests, every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices. Every high priest is ordained
for men and things pertaining to God, to offer peace offerings,
burnt offerings, sin offerings, trespass offerings, atonements, to offer gifts and
sacrifices. They were ordained for that purpose.
It is said over there in Hebrews 9, verse 6, Hebrews 9, 6, "...when these
things were thus ordained, the priests," plural, many of them,
"...went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the
service of God," on and on and on, "...but into the second went
the high priest alone once every year," not without blood, not
without blood. That's so important, not without
blood, "...which he offered for himself for the heirs of the
people." And that's what he's repeating here in Hebrews 8,
verse 3. Every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices of blood. Wherefore, it is of
necessity, absolutely necessary, that this man, if he's our priest,
if he's our representative, he's got to have somewhat also to
It's of necessity that this man, our high priest, have a sacrifice
to offer. Well, what does he have and what
does he offer? The Old Testament high priest
didn't dare go into the presence of God without the blood, not
without blood. In that old tabernacle in Christ,
the ghost of ministers, not in tabernacle made with hands, but
heaven itself. What does he have to offer? Well,
as God, he has nothing to offer. That's right. I'm not being blasphemous. I'm saying, as the Son of God,
he has no sacrifice to offer. If he's only a man, if Jesus
of Nazareth is only a man, he has nothing to offer, if he's
only a man. He wouldn't even be a high priest
if he was only a man. Look here at verse 4. If he were
on the earth, he wouldn't be a high priest. See that in verse
4? Seeing that there are priests
that offer gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example
and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God
when he was about to make the tabernacles, God said, See, saith
he, that ye make all things according to the pattern showed thee on
the mount." And this man, Jesus Christ, is of the wrong tribe.
Look back there at Hebrews 7, verse 13. He of whom these things
are spoken pertaineth to another tribe. God said, don't you improvise.
He said, Moses, see that you do everything according to the
pattern showed you on the mountain. Every priest taken from among
men to offer gifts and sacrifices for men will be from Abram, Levi,
the tribe. Jesus of Nazareth, he's got to
have somewhat to offer, but if he's only the Son of God, he
has nothing to offer. God can't die. If he's only a
Jew and a man, he has nothing to offer. He's in the wrong tribe.
Over here in 7, verse 13. It's evident, verse 14, "...our
Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning the priesthood." Nothing. Let's turn to Hebrews 9, verse
11. But Christ being come, Hebrews
9, 11. A high priest of good things
to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. Oh, he
has somewhat to offer, his own blood. He entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, if
the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled
in the unclean, sanctified through the purifying of the flesh. Oh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge once for all
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews
8, 6, But now that he, the king-priest, now hath he obtained a more excellent
ministry, by how much also he's a mediator of a better covenant
established on better promises." Our high priest has a more excellent
ministry, excellent ministry. I want you to look at a couple
of Scriptures, back to Hebrews 1. His excellency, His excellency. They use that a lot of time talking
to these earthly kings, but it doesn't fit. Here's excellency.
It just fits one. Hebrews 1 verse 4 says, "...being
made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name even today." And then for Lithuanians,
this word excellency. Excellency. In Philippians chapter
3, the Apostle Paul is talking about the excellency of our Lord.
In Philippians 3, he says in verse 7, what things were gained
to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. for whom I've suffered the loss
of all things, and I do count them but don't, that I may win
Christ and be found in him." That's true excellency. Excellency. He has, let's go back to our
text, Hebrews 8, 6. He hath obtained the most excellent
ministry. Theirs was temporary, his is
eternal. Theirs was typical, his is divine.
They were many, he is one. Their sacrifice is powerless,
utterly powerless, his effectual. They ministered in a tent on
earth. You talk about temporary, a tent
on earth. He ministers in heaven. Oh, what
a more excellent minister. And it says here that he's the
mediator of a better covenant, a better covenant which is established
upon better promises. Go back to verse 1 in this Hebrews
8. Let me show you something. He
ministers in a better place. He's at the right hand of the
throne in the heavens. Verse 2, he ministers in a better
tabernacle. It's a true tabernacle which
the Lord picked. Moses didn't pitch this one,
God did. Verse 3, he has a better sacrifice
he offered himself. Verse 6, he has a better covenant,
it's everlasting. Verse 6, it's established on
better promises. What did God promise Israel?
A land, a material land flowing with milk and honey. as long
as they obeyed him. What does the Lord promise his
people? Well, let me read it to you. I'll just read it. You
don't need to turn to it. He says, Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the And that's our promise.
That's our promise, that they might be where I am to behold
my glory. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. All right, verse 7. Now he says
about this first covenant made with Israel, delivered by Moses. This is interesting here. If
that first covenant had been faultless, If that first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second covenant. No need for a new covenant if
that old covenant was faultless, but it wasn't faultless. The
covenant wasn't faultless and the people weren't. The people
of Israel were typical. They were typical people. You
know, I hear preachers sometimes take that text over in the Old
Testament and preach a message called a recipe for revival. I know you've heard this before.
And they'll preach this as a recipe for revival in our day. And they'll
read, If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways, I'll hear from heaven and heal their lame. That's not
talking about the church. That's not talking about believers.
That's talking about Israel, backslidden, unbelievers, rebels,
who hated God and hated Moses and died in the wilderness. That's
who he's talking about. Can't be said of God's people.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
they've already been humbled. He humbled them. God's people
aren't proud. They're humble people. and seek my face." They're not
seeking the Lord, they've found him. He's revealed himself to
them. Turn from their wicked ways.
They've already turned from their wicked ways to the ways of God.
Seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves.
That's not talking about God's people. Israel was a typical
people. The blessings promised them were
material and physical. a shadow of things to come. The
laws imposed upon them demanded outward obedience and outward
duties, outward compliance. Their mediators were mere men. Their sacrifices was animal blood. Their tabernacle was temporary.
Their prophets spoke to the people for God. They didn't know God. God sent his prophets to speak
to the people for God, and their priests represented them with
blood sacrifices to God. Their prophets went to the people
for God, and their priests went to God for the people. But the
people hated God's law and broke God's law, and the prophets prophesied
falsely. And the priests became corrupt
and made merchandise of holy things. That's Israel. And the problem was, it's twofold. Twofold. Number one, the law
could not give them a new height. The law could not make them love
God or God's ways or God's will. It couldn't do it. What the law
could not do, it was weak through the flesh. The law wasn't weak,
the flesh was. So that law God gave them could
not change their hearts, could not give them a new heart, could
not give them love for God or love for truth or love for holiness.
They hated it. And secondly, their priest, with
their blood sacrifices, could not please God. could not give
God any pleasure nor enable him to be just and justify them,
or deal with them in mercy. So the law which they had couldn't
change their hearts, and the priesthood with its sacrifices
couldn't make them accepted with God. So, verse 8, So finding
fault with them, he said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
I'll make a new covenant. I'll make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and the house of Judah." Not this renegade
tribe, not these backslidden unbelievers, not these that came
out of Egypt, but spiritual Zion. And all of them of the house
of Judah, because they're all king-priests. They're all in
Christ. They're all his children. Not
according to that covenant I made with their fathers in the day
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land
of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant. They wouldn't
obey my laws. They wouldn't keep my Sabbath.
And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. That old covenant couldn't do
anything for them, because it couldn't do anything for them
inside, and the sacrifices couldn't do anything for God in satisfying
his holiness and justice and righteousness. So he set a new
covenant. Is it new? No, it's not new. It's old. It goes back before
the foundation of the world. Well, why is it called a new
covenant? It's called a new covenant because it's newly revealed in
Christ. It's newly revealed. It's called
a new covenant because it's always new. It's never old. It's a misnomer, a mistake to
call it the old covenant. I made that mistake a while ago.
I said it's old. It's not old, it's new. It's
always new. It'll never be replaced. It'll
never grow old. It's not like us. There's no
time in God's covenant. It's timeless. It's new because
it makes all things new. It gives a new heart. It gives
a new nature. It gives a new spirit. God said,
I'll make everything new. It's a new covenant. And here it is, verse 10. This is the covenant. Now, bear
in mind, that other one was faultless because it was faultless, and
that crowd to which it was given was faulty. It was with fault,
and they were with fault. Couldn't give a new heart, couldn't
give God satisfaction. But here's the covenant I'll
make. With the house of Israel, with every believer, we are Israel,
we are God's Abraham's seed, after those days said the Lord.
I'll put my law, and when God says my laws, he's talking about
his ways, his ways, his will, his thoughts. You know, when
he said over in Isaiah, let a man forsake his ways, his ways. Your
ways are not my ways. Your thoughts are not my thoughts.
I can't go on in my way and my thoughts. I've got to forsake
my way and my thoughts. I've got to love his way and
his thoughts. I've got to know his way and
his thoughts. So God says, I'm going to take my ways and my
thoughts and my word and my law, put them in their minds. Never
did that for Israel, Old Testament. Wrote them on tables of stone. Wrote them on tables of stone.
Thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt not, stone, hard, cold,
do it, live, break it, and die." But he said, I'm going to write
it on their minds so they'll meditate on it and think on it,
understand my ways. And I'm going to write it on
their hearts so they'll love my ways and love my thoughts
and love my word. His ways become our ways. We
pray, not my will, thy will be done. I've written that on the
heart. I've written that on the heart.
Then secondly, I'll be to them a God. I'll be to them a Father.
The Lord Jesus Christ, when he rose from the grave, he told
those women at the tomb, he said, Go tell my disciples. that I go to my God and your
God. I go to my God and your God.
Thomas summed it up for us, my Lord and my God. I'll be their
God. I'll be their father. They'll
cry, Abba, Father, and they'll be my people. They shall be to
me a people. I'll be to them a father and
they'll be to me a son. Sons of God. What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God?
He never called those people sons of God. That's not even
a language they used back then. This new covenant, I'll write
it not on tables of stone, outward obedience and morality and Compliance,
I write it up here so they'll think on it, and down here so
they'll love it. My ways are your ways. My thoughts
are, and I'll be their God and they'll be my people. And then
verse 11, and thirdly, and they shall not teach. They don't have
to have teachers to tell them to know God. They shall not teach
every man his neighbor and every man his brother and say, know
the Lord. They all going to know me. from the least one to the
greatest, from the youngest to the oldest. The Son of God has
come and given us an understanding. God spoke to those people by
the prophets. The prophets got the word and
they came and told them to do certain things, do certain things.
God spoke to us by the Son. We know the Son of God has come,
and he's come to every believer, every single child of God, and
given us an understanding that we may know him that's true,
and that we're in him that's true. And this is eternal life.
This is the true God. This is life. This is a new covenant
in Christ Jesus. They know me. They know me. And they come boldly into my
presence, every one of them. They don't stand outside in the
cold while some priest goes in and sprinkles hyssop blood on
a mercy seat. Every one of them. Driving down
the highway, Father, help me now. Help my family. Washing dishes in front of the
sink. There's not much glamour there, is there? But there's
glory there, because you can say, I love you, I'm grateful
to you. Everybody, everybody. Preacher, pray for me, all right?
And you pray for me, okay? That's the way everybody who's
saved knows him and his children. The parent doesn't sit in the
room and have some son come in and represent all the other children.
They all come in, pile up on his lap, you know, all over,
all around. Father. All right, verse 12,
and I'll be merciful, fourthly, I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness. We don't have any righteousness
of our own by nature. He gives us righteousness. I'll
be merciful to their unrighteousness, and I'll give them a perfect
righteousness in Christ Jesus. That's what he said over there
in Romans 3. He said that now the righteousness of God by the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all them
that believe. He leads us in paths of righteousness. He was made sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I'll be merciful
to their unrighteousness. I'll give them a holy, perfect
righteousness before the Father. And their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Why will he not remember our
sins and iniquities anymore? Well, look across the page at
Hebrews 9, verse 24. Let me read this again. For Christ
is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others. If that be the case, he must
have often suffered since the foundation of the world, because
that's how long he's been a priest. But now once in the end of the
world has he appeared to put away sin. That's why it's remembered
no more. It doesn't exist. He appeared
once to put away sin, put it away by the sacrifice of himself. That's why I believe so strongly
in effectual redemption, in particular redemption, in the fact that
Christ died for his sheep, because for whomever he died, their sins
are put away, it says. He put it away. And so it can't
be what doesn't exist can't be remembered. It doesn't exist. He put it away. And as it's appointed
unto me and wants to die, and after this the judgment, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sin of many. And unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin. It's not on you, he took it. It's not on him, he paid for
it. And separating it from you as far as the east is from the
west. That's the new covenant. They didn't know anything about
that back then. I'll put my will and word and
ways in their minds, write them on their hearts. I'll be their
father, they'll be my sons. They'll know me, every one of
them, from the least to the greatest. I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness,
give them a perfect holiness in Christ, and I'll never bring
up their sins again." Now, verse 13, in establishing that new
covenant, in that he saith a new covenant.
He made the first one old. It's old. It decayed and done
away and served its purpose, and it is no more. It's of no
use. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
away. John Kent wrote this, Come, and sing in sweet accord with
solemn pleasure tale of the covenant made with David's Lord, in all
things ordered well." Isn't that what David said when he came
to die? God's made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, ordered well. This covenant stood ere time
began. that God with men might dwell?
Eternal wisdom drew the plan, and all things ordered well.
This covenant, O believer, stands thy greatest fears to quell,
sealed by thy bleeding surety's hands, and all things ordered
well. It was made with Christ for his
bride before the sinner fell. Signed, sealed, ratified. in
all things ordered well. When mountains and hills depart
on fire and sinks this world to hell, this covenant shall
all Saints admire in all things ordered well. In glory soon with
Christ our King his sheep shall surely dwell, and of this blessed
covenant say, in all things ordered well. That's our hope. We have such an eye for it. What an eye for it we do have.